Meet the urban explorers who fell in love with abandoned places and each other

Source: The Straits Times
Author: Teo Kai Xiang

SINGAPORE - In modern and ever-evolving Singapore, Ms Amanda Cheong and Mr Stanley Cheah found love in the city's most neglected and forgotten spaces.

By day, the couple work in the shiny skyscrapers of two of Singapore's biggest banks. By night, they are urban explorers who delve into Singapore's abandoned places, and share the stories and scenes left behind by Singapore's rapid development on their Instagram page, @AbandonedSingapore.

The married couple, who have a four-month-old, had their first date exploring an abandoned fort in Sentosa in 2021, but theirs was a meet-cute that was years in the making.

For Ms Cheong, 36, a bank officer, her love of urban exploration began as a teen, when she was drawn to the eerie allure of night walks to haunted places such as the Old Changi Hospital.

For Mr Cheah, 25, a relationship manager, it began as a love of photography and wanting to capture the images of lesser-known Singapore.

Their paths finally crossed in 2021 when Ms Cheong stumbled upon and started following @AbandonedSingapore, which was run by Mr Cheah at the time and where he posted pictures of his solo adventures to the likes of Bukit Brown Cemetery and abandoned schools and mansions.

After he messaged her on Instagram, the two started exploring together. Their dates consisted of outdoor cooking, visiting islands such as Pulau Hantu and swimming in the sea.